Return to the Land of Souls
Jordi Esteva
Jordi Esteva (Barcelona 1951), is a writer and photographer who has always been fascinated by Africa and the Middle East thereby focusing most his activity as a journalist and photographer on this part of the world. He spent five years in Egypt working for Radio Cairo International. In 1994 he participated in the UNESCO World Heritage Project for 2001 and was commissioned to photograph the Medina of Marrakech. He wrote some books. In february 2009: After two months in Ivory Coast, the filming of Return to the land of souls is completed. (Best documentary Black International Cinema Berlin; Best documentary Bangkok Indiefest).
Synopsis
Many ancestral beliefs are vanishing in our fast-changing world. In the southeast of Ivory Coast, some Akan communities still contact spirits through animist priests. The priests go into trance and are said to be possessed by Forest and Water spirits. Jean Marie Addiaffi (1941-1999), a writer and intellectual from Ivory Coast, fought to conserve the Akans' oral literature, myths and legends, and their knowledge of the medical use of plants.
In the film " Return to the land of souls" Yéo Douley, one of Addiaffi's disciples, goes on a journey to his master's grave to make a ritual offering. On the way, he witnesses the initiation rites of three people chosen by the sirits, and one proclaimed the new Komian, or high animist priest.
The documentary gives fascinating insight into animist beliefs in the Ivory Coast and the impact of modernization. Beliefs and change are exploted through the eyes of the people themselves, with Yéo Douley providing the narration. Some of those appearing in the report staunchly defend animist beliefs. Others see them as an undesirable hangover from a pagan past. The documentary is indispensable for anyone interested in the subtle interplay between the spirit world and the 21st century in today's Africa.